Law, Liberty and the Destruction of the Church?

Amen. Some of you know that hymn we just sung together. Brethren, we've met to worship. That's an old one. We've been doing that one for years. But we sang a phrase that jumped out at me. Did you notice we sang "Hell is moving"? Don't we see that outside of the doors of the church? In this world, hell is moving, but you know the church is moving as well. Christ's church is moving forward in obedience and serving Him. Christ's church is being what God would want it to be in the world. I'm very thankful for that. So when we look outside and see how hell is moving, don't be discouraged. He's Lord of it all. I mean He is Lord of it all.

Enjoy that worship. Well, like I said earlier in our scripture reading, just have your Bibles turned there to Romans chapter 14. We will primarily be in Romans 14. And I know I said it. I'll say it again. We're not going to cover everything. So if you see a verse or two that jumps out at you in your own personal study time, dig a little deeper, maybe field a few questions here because there's a lot that we need to learn here. And I will call us to turn over to Hebrews and 1 Peter a little later on in the message. Now for seven weeks, we have been dealing with one particular subject. It's really a big subject, a broad subject.

This has all been about life and the body. Now obviously I have not been exhaustive here, but we have studied some very important topics. We've looked at some subjects that I think we needed to cover. We started off in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I said I would come back to those verses time and time again. And I have. I've referred to those passages. I've used some of that same language we have seen. And we are learning that we are to be about unity in diversity, diversity in unity. We are one, we are baptized in the body of Christ. And then we stepped over and studied that subject of division.

We needed to understand what division is and what it's like in the life of the church and just how sinful it is. We took the time to study church membership because you need to know who we are. Some of you are praying about planning your life here at Grace Life Church here in Brookhaven. And then we did study that subject to church discipline. A lot of people don't like that subject. It's positive, it's good, it's biblical. We studied biblical church discipline, healthy, biblical church discipline. And we all need it because our number one goal, our desire, is that we would be a pure church but a pure people.

A pure people individually and collectively. This morning we're going to address a very important part of body life. And this subject might surprise some of you. Now if we think about it, if we look into the life of the local church, we really do see all types of people. Really the church can be a lot like our families, our earthly families and our families. We all have in-laws and out-laws. We have a few oddballs in our families. We have some in our families that maybe are more sophisticated and some that are maybe a little more simple. We have the more educated and the less educated. We really could go on and on.

Some of you have been thinking like that in your mind. To be honest with you, this reminds me of my mother. A few years back she really started doing some more work on our family tree, our genealogy. She's always been into that as well as some other people in my family. But you know she really got serious when she was seeking membership in a particular organization. The DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution. Some of you know what that organization is all about. You know if you are a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, you can prove that you are a direct descendant of someone who fought in the American Revolution.

Y'all didn't know I was a descendant of George Washington, did you? I got wooden teeth just like George Washington. Now when she was doing all of that work, to be honest with you, she would be so excited. I mean she was so excited about this descendant and that descendant and who did this and who did that. And I used to pick on her all the time. I'd say, "Mom, if you keep digging around in our past, "you're gonna uncover a horse thief." Boy, she didn't like to hear that. No, no, that's not true, that's not true. But I'm gonna tell you a little secret. I mean if she was here she wouldn't like it.

During all of her research, she couldn't locate her parents marriage certificate. She went, I'm telling you, she went to hundreds of courthouses and she could not find their marriage certificate, therefore she could not prove that they were actually married. See, her parents eloped, they ran off and got married. Well, you know what that can point to. You weren't allowed to discuss that. You couldn't use that kind of language, you know. Well, she finally did find the marriage certificate and I have continued to give her a hard time about that. But you know, that's what the church is like.

Think about it, you have the horse thieves and the illegitimate sitting right next to each other. You have the sophisticated and the respected sitting right next to the lowlives who have come to Christ within the church, the local body of Christ. It's a lot like Rainbow Sherbet. Anybody like Rainbow Sherbet? We're just all mixed up. All kind of different flavors mixed together. And see, right here in the life of this church, Grace Life Church of Brookhaven, we're all right here together and we have differences, more differences than maybe you realize. Now, I'm not talking about jobs. I'm not talking about careers.

I'm not talking about hobbies. I'm not talking about taste in music. No. You see, we have differences because of our church and religious backgrounds. They can be a lot different. Some of you have a lot of differences because of your spiritual strengths and your spiritual weaknesses. See, some of you have been through major life experiences. Very difficult life experiences and they have made you a lot different spiritually than some others. Some of you have a past. You know, we don't like to talk about our past. Some of you have a past. And that's foreign to who you are spiritually.

But you know, there's some of you here, you don't even know what a past is like. You have no clue to have to live that down. And we must see that the longer that we live life in the local church, some differences can cause spiritual friction. Some of these differences can come along and without knowing it, there can be this little camp over here or that little camp over there. And if left alone, it can become destructive. It can become divisive. And there can be problems in the life of the body if we don't know how to deal with these types of differences properly. I wanna narrow this down and kinda get to what I'm aiming at.

You see in the life of the church, there are always some that are attracted to rules. There are always some that are attracted to law. Some of you here, you love black and white lists. You're just attracted to lists. And I'm not talking about a grocery list. Some of you here, you're attracted to living out the Christian life through dos and don'ts and lists. Oh, but there are others. Some of you here, you love grace, you love liberty. Some of you don't like lists. You don't want dos and don'ts. You wanna talk about your freedom in Christ.

And when you look at the Christian life, you're looking at the Christian life, not through the lens of a list, but through the lens of freedom and liberty and grace. Well, that was one of the problems of the church at Rome. Have you figured this out yet? All of these churches we study in the scripture had problems. They all had problems. And the Roman church had some problems. And specifically, Paul was addressing these kind of problems in Romans 14. Simply there were some, they were hanging on the lists, dos and don'ts. While there was a completely different group, they were enjoying all of their freedoms.

But listen, both groups said that they were serving the Lord. And it is a stretch. It's not a stretch to say that the law keepers were fighting against those who love liberty. It's not a stretch to say that the lovers of grace were butting heads with the rule makers. And that was going on in the church, in the pew, in the Sunday school class. Maybe even in the deacons and elders meetings. Now this is how we're gonna approach this message. First, we're going to look at what I am calling three realities. There are three realities in this situation there in the Roman church. Now again, a disclaimer, I will not be exhaustive.

And this is all about the law keepers in the church. And this is all about the lovers of liberty in the church. And what can happen if the church and the leaders don't deal with this properly? So the first reality, the first reality that I want us to see is this. There were very different Christians in the life of the church. There in Rome at that church, there were a lot of different Christians in the life of the church. Now these Christians were different in lots of different ways. I'm just gonna hit the hotspots here. First, they had Jewish Christians in the church and they had Gentile Christians in the church.

Now these Jews were brought up in Judaism, the religion of Judaism. And they followed the law of God and everything in the Old Testament. While these Gentiles, they came from rank paganism. The Gentiles worship many gods. They even worship the emperor. While the Jews, they only worship the one true God and see the Jews they worship there in the synagogues. And then if they traveled to Jerusalem, they worship there in the temple. While the Gentiles, they worshiped in all of these pagan temples and they would be making sacrifices to the God's little G. And at times, a part of their pagan worship, they would be engaging in immorality.

These Jewish Christians have been waiting on the long awaited Messiah. Jesus is from the beginning of Genesis all the way to the beginning and through the New Testament. So these Jews, they've been waiting on the long awaited Messiah while the Gentiles, they didn't know anything about a Messiah, although they had come to Christ. But then second, we have the weaker Christians here in the scripture, here in Rome. We have the weaker Christians and the stronger Christians there in the church. Now, it is easier to see the weaker in verse one. Go back to verse one. Ask for the one who is weak in the faith. See, he's named right here.

But notice how we see the weaker and the stronger. First, the weaker brothers were the ones who lived their lives, their Christian lives under rules. Let me restate that. The weaker, they were the brothers who lived the Christian life under the rules. They wanted the lists. They wanted the black and whites. Look at verse two. One person believes he may eat anything. That's the stronger. While the weak person eats only vegetables. See, they have the list. They have the list. But notice verse five. Notice verse five. One person esteems another day better than the other while another esteems all days alike.

So right away, we see the different kinds of Christians in the church. Again, I skim the surface. The Jews and the Gentiles, the weak and the strong. And these are all differences. These are all different kind of Christians with differences. And this led to problems and factions and frictions and divisions in the church. Now, I have a rhetorical question or two that I want us to hold on this morning. Hold on to. Were these differences wrong? You might want to write that down. Were these differences wrong? You see, should these Jewish Christians have broken off and formed the first Baptist church there in Rome? The Jews were there first.

They were the ones that were converted first. You know, so maybe they should have gotten dibs on the name. Or maybe should these stronger Gentile Christians, should they have split off from the church as well and formed their own church? And then the second question, did the weaker have the responsibility to become like the strong? We need to ask these kinds of questions. So that's the first reality. There were these different Christians in the life of the church there in Rome. Reality number two, these weren't very serious divisions in the life of the church. These factions, these divisions, these difficulties weren't very, very serious.

Now, I want you to see that these divisions were along two lines. I've touched on this some, some of you have seen it. These were divisions over food, or foods and divisions over days. Now, all of this came from their backgrounds and this can be foreign to us. Basically, this is the way it was. First, the Jews. See, they came to Christ out of a very strict legalistic background. All of their lives, they had very strict dietary laws, which they kept. Also, there were these different holy days that they had to observe. And of course, they had the Sabbath day and for the Jews, Sabbath was Saturday.

And then there were all of these rules pertaining to the Sabbath and the Sabbath day so as to keep those days holy. Well, then the Gentiles, they never had to worry about strict rules and their religions. No foods were forbidden. No holy days were set out. If you study their lifestyles and their religions, there was really nothing off limits. For the Gentiles, the only one rule they had was there were no rules. Basically, this is what was happening. In the early church, not just here at Rome. In the early church, you had Jews coming to Christ and they could not let go of their ceremonial laws, which they had practiced all of their lives.

They were steeped in these ceremonial laws, these rights, these prohibitions that God himself had given them in the old covenant and they just couldn't let go of those rules and those laws. But then you had the Gentiles and they were coming into that early church too and they were coming in like a flood and they had been steeped in their pagan religions. All of these pagan religions and those practices, they had come from polytheism, which meant they worshiped many gods. They sacrificed animals to their gods.

They had all of these religious feasts, which really were religious orgies and they were involved in all kinds of debauchery that was attached to their religions and they came to faith in Christ and they came into the church and they rejected anything from that lifestyle. So notice what's happening here, verses one to two. Let's go back to the verses. As far as the one who was weak in the faith, welcome him. But not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything while the weak person eats only vegetables. See, some had freedom, freedom to eat any foods. Notice they were the strong.

Then some had kept those restrictions surrounding foods and they were the weak. Then in verses five to six, some had freedom that all days were the same. They were the strong. And then some, they kept certain days and they've elevated other days and they were the weak. Now I know this has been fast, but take a step back and notice the situation. Sometimes I use this term big picture. We have all of these Christians in the church, Jews and Gentiles strong and weak and these differences had led to conflict and friction and division.

The Jewish Christians were keeping all of those food laws, all of those special days and Paul called them the weak. Then the Gentiles, they had freedom. They had freedom and grace in all of these foods and all of these days and Paul called them the strong. Occasionally I will do this. I'll take a little liberty. I call it my Holy Spirit imagination. Maybe my imagination is illuminated by the Spirit to kind of go here. See, when they had a first Sunday fellowship, we have first Sunday fellowship coming up next Sunday.

When this church had the first Sunday fellowship, the Gentiles were bringing smoked pork ribs and the Jewish Christians were hitting the roof. They didn't eat pork. They would have stormed out. Those were fighting foods. Then on Saturday, see the Jews, they kept the Sabbath. They held on to the old Jewish Sabbath and while the Jews were still going to the synagogue, they had not broken off from these Jewish practices. They passed by the houses of the Gentiles and the Gentiles were out mowing their grass on the Jewish Sabbath and the Jewish Christians were furious. You didn't do that. And look what's coming out of all this.

These groups were judging one another. They were treating one another with contempt. Judgment and contempt. Judgment and contempt. That's why I use the word faction and division and friction. Look at verse one. As far as the one who has weakened the faith, welcome him, do not quarrel over opinions. Verses three and four. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains. And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. Then verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? And then verse 13. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer. And what we have here is these groups. They were unloving.

They had become self-righteous. They had contemptuous attitudes towards one another. They were possessed by self-righteousness and it came out in contempt and judgment in their attitudes in the way they were treating one another. Remember the cold shoulder of the shotgun and the bulldozer? They had those spiritual gifts. They looked around the sanctuary and they saw brothers. They weren't living the same and they gave them the cold shoulder. They shot at them with a shotgun. They bulldozed them over with judgment and contempt. But remember our questions? Were these differences wrong? Were these different? These were fighting factions.

Were these differences wrong? And did the weaker have this responsibility to immediately become like the strong? Hold on to your answer. And then reality number three. Reality number three. We have Paul's unusual but much needed instruction. Now to be honest with you, I struggled whether to use instruction or command. He was an apostle so he could command anything and he was commanding and instructing here. Now for some, Paul is giving some unusual instruction here. Now I say that because this is so unusual today. What I mean is this, we wouldn't react this way. So this instruction from Paul, it's just odd. It's not the norm.

But notice what he commands. Now I'm not gonna flesh all this out. You gotta go get some of this on your own. First, he instructs them to accept or to receive one another. Look at verse one. As for the one who has weakened the faith, welcome him. The English Standard Version says. Now this would be the right hand of fellowship. This would be true Christian fellowship. Paul is saying that they were to see them as a true Christian. They were to affirm them in their walk, yes, to eat with them and to live life with them in the local church. No cold shoulder. No Gnostic attitude looking down on them.

No, this would be the warm hug of Christian fellowship. Second, he instructs them not to judge one another. We see that in verse four, verse 10 and verse 13. Why did he have to repeat that? He is saying, do not look at this different brother with contempt, not with a judgmental attitude. Do not have a self-righteous attitude with this different brother. Don't look down on him like he is lesser or even like he's not right with God. Don't look down on him like he's lesser or second class. Remember the bulldozer? No, you would extend a right hand of fellowship, full fellowship. Then third, he instructs them not to violate their conscience.

Now this might surprise some of you. It's almost like he's pausing in the middle of this. I really thought about this last night quite a bit. Look back at verse five and verse six. One person esteems, elevates. One day is better than the other. That comes from the Jews. While another esteems all days alike. That comes from the Gentiles. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Fully convinced. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord. What is he saying? You're observing the days for the Lord. The one who eats, he eats in honor of the Lord since he gives thanks to God.

While the one who abstains abstains in the honor of the Lord in gives thanks to God. Now what Paul is saying here is simple. No matter their view on the matter, be thoroughly convinced as to not violate their conscience. What is he saying? If you're doing these things and you're doing them unto the Lord and for the Lord and you are thoroughly convinced, do not violate your conscience. Remember, these were not moral issues. We're not dealing with clear commands here. No, these are not clear commands of right and wrong in the scripture. These would be matters of conscience. So Paul is saying that they should be faithful.

Faithful to their position. Oh, much prayer. Oh, study the scripture. Oh, maybe you need some counsel from the church leaders. And oh, maybe you need a work of the Holy Spirit of God in you. But he's saying, do not violate your conscience. Fourth, he instructs them not to be a stumbling block. He instructs them not to be a stumbling block. Verse 13, all the way to verse 15. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer. They've been doing that. But rather decide never, ever to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.

Paul says none of this stuff is unclean. But it is unclean for anyone who thinks it is unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. Here Paul is commanding them not, not to do anything that would hinder a brother in their spiritual growth. Again, these were not moral issues. These were not matters that were clearly commanded in the scriptures. These were matters of conscience. And Paul is saying here, do not let these non-essential matters cause you to cause another to stumble in the life of the church. You know what I thought about?

Speed bumps. Don't we like speed bumps? You know, we're driving along there and don't pay attention. All of a sudden we hit a speed bump and there goes our front end, you know? It's gone. What is he saying? Don't be a speed bump. You got brothers and sisters living for the Lord and don't be a speed bump. You know there are certain people think that their spiritual gift is speed bump. Then fifth, he instructs them not to destroy others. See how it's building? Look at verse 16. So do not let what you regard as good to be spoken of as evil. He goes on to say, don't let what you do destroy.

Verse 20, do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. What Paul is saying here is key. These are secondary issues. These are non-essential matters. These are not moral issues. These are not clear commands, but matters of Christian conscience and conviction. He is saying, do not allow things which are permissible for them to become grounds for someone to condemn them. And that needs to be seen. Paul is saying, do not let something which is permissible for some be grounds for another's to condemn. You know, I thought about it like this. Some people think that a flamethrower is a spiritual gift.

I'll be honest with you, I got a friend of mine. He's kind of a gun collector. And in private, he always talks about trying to acquire a flamethrower. It's a real person. And I think, what do you want to flamethrower for? But you know there's certain people, they think flamethrower is a spiritual gift. Because what they do is, they look at others who have different convictions and they live out their Christian life in a different way and they just flamethrower those people and they destroy them. I've seen it. So have you.

And what happens is, is when you deal with people like that, you cook them for Jesus and you try to make them just like you are. But then sixth, he instructs them to build up one another. To build up one another. Verse 19 and 20. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual building up or up building. Do not for the sake of your food, destroy the work of God. Everything is in clean indeed. But it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. Here Paul tells them that instead of fighting and hindering each other over non-essential matters, they are to make every effort to pursue peace and to have Christian harmony.

But more, he says they are to work to build each other up in the faith and build each other up in their walk. But more, he says they are not to tear down each other over foods and over days. He's basically saying these are inconsequential matters. But there is more. What does he say? This is the work of God. God's built this up. And what does he say? You don't tear it down. Many of you know that just a few years ago, I engaged in a act of lunacy. We sold our house and moved into a 30 foot camper while we remodeled a home. That's lunacy. If you're thinking about doing that, come see me and I will help you.

But you know, I worked hard on my house. Many of you have been in my home. You know, I tried to give my wife the floors that she wanted and tried to give her the kitchen that she liked and you know, the paint that she liked. You know, really in a way, none of that stuff mattered for me. And I worked hard. And you know, while I was building that home, if you'd have come over there and torn that down, I'd have fought you. I might would have chased you with a skill saw. It was my work. What do we have here? Paul saying, this is God's work. And what is he saying? You build each other up. No, you help each other in your walk.

You don't tear down what God has built. So notice what Paul's doing here. This church situation was hot, folks. This was hot. This was friction. And maybe it was just under the surface, but it was there and it was rough. The visitor in the church here might not see it, but it was right there. The Jews did not like the Gentiles. They didn't like them in all of their freedoms. They were mortified and they were offended. They were mad. And the Gentiles did not like the Jews for all of their rules and all of their snobbery 'cause they looked down on them.

The weak lawkeepers for Jesus, they were judging those who were enjoying their Christian liberty. And then those who loved their liberty, they didn't like being around all the lawkeepers and so on and so on. Kind of sounds like a dog chasing his tail. But the question, were these differences wrong? And did they have, did the weaker have this responsibility to become like the stronger overnight? Now, I want us to see what Paul is saying here. Real briefly, six things. This is an abbreviation of what I've just zoomed through. Accept one another. Welcome them. Don't judge one another. Be thoroughly convinced of how God is leading you here.

Don't violate your conscience, never violate your conscience, verse five and six. Don't be a stumbling block. Don't leave that stumbling block for another. Don't destroy another and do not tear down God's work. Now, I want you to follow me. I wanna show you how this works. And I really want you to pay attention here, okay? You see, someone comes in the life of the church. They come to faith in Christ, all right? They're a new believer. Or maybe someone comes in and they're already a Christian, see? And they come into the life of the church. And notice how they're wired. They love rules. They love law.

They see living out the Christian life through the lens of dos and don'ts. And that's just the way they are. But then someone else comes to faith in Christ, or maybe they come and they go through the membership process and they join our church and they're a true believer. But they see their Christian life completely different. It's about grace and liberty and freedom. And they are wired completely different. And in time, that is a recipe for a fight if we don't know how to live in the body. I wanna give us some cultural examples that'll help us here.

See, you get all these people together in the life of the church, and all of a sudden the subject of entertainment comes up. TV, movies, music. Oh, and everybody has different opinions. See, the one who loves law over here, they might be stiff and rigid. They might say, I can't listen to anything that's non-Christian. I can't watch certain movies and I can't watch certain TV shows while someone else might have a little more liberty. Think about sports. You know, sports is a part of our culture. You know, if our kids like sports, maybe we encourage them to be a part of sports.

I remember years ago, years ago, a family that I ministered to, they had a little boy that was good at sports and they just rejected it all. And they yanked that little boy out of sports and they would not allow him to be a part of sports. But some other brother over here, they love it. And they're in the middle of ball games and soccer and baseball and football right there, living for the Lord. You know, some like to go to a college football game. I've known Christians who like to go to a professional football game. Some of you like to watch TV, sports on TV, but yet there's some that they just have stiff rules there.

They think that's a waste of time. They see it as worldly while a brother over here, they have perfect freedom to enjoy those things. You know, there are a lot of hot views on social media. I like social media for a little while. I don't really do Facebook. If I see something on Facebook, it's 'cause I'm watching my wife's. She always says, don't touch the wrong button. Don't like something you're not supposed to like. So if you see funny hearts on my wife's Facebook, it's probably me.

I saw a Christian on Facebook here a while back, rail against Facebook, social media, all of the evils involved, making a hard declaration, all Christians should get off of this stuff. Three or four months later, they're still doing it. And what I'm showing you is this, one brother or one sister enjoy social media and they don't use it for sin. But then someone over here, they have hard and fast rules. They don't like it and they abstain from those things. I've seen that. You know, some people have views about where they go to restaurants. I've done Christians who cannot go to a restaurant with a bar.

I know Christians, I've seen Christians that they had hard and fast rules about where you shop. If they sold things in particular stores that they deem were sinful, they just wouldn't go. But yet some Christians, they can eat in a restaurant right next to a bar and it doesn't buy them a bit. You know, we live in Mississippi and the casinos are around us. Some Christians have hard and fast convictions about the casino. If their work has a conference there at the casino, they just can't go. They can't walk in the doors. But yet I've known Christians, no big deal. They're not tempted to sin in any way.

Whether you know it or not, there's been a large debate throughout Christian history about what Christians can do on Sunday. The Christian Sabbath. There's some that have very strict regulations. They have lots of rules. And listen, that argument has been going down through time with Christians throughout the ages. And there's some they have perfect freedom. You get all these people in the life of the church and what do you have? Friction, but I've got one more. How you lead your family. See, it's one thing when you talk about how you live, but when you start talking about your family, it gets personal.

I've known Christians that have very stiff convictions about how to lead your family. Family worship, family devotion, teaching them the scripture or not. And in this day, I know people that have firm convictions about how you educate your children. We live in a culture and a time where you can homeschool your children, you can send them to private school and you can send them to public school. You know, it was interesting. I was watching a Q and A, conference Q and A. Famous Christians, they were debating education. And a famous Christian Sinclair Ferguson was just kind of off to the side. He didn't say much. And then finally they asked him.

And in his nice goddess accent, he said, "Well, you know, we live in Scotland "and we don't enjoy these privileges. "By law, we must send our children to the state school." There was no debate. I guess you could leave Scotland. And what I'm trying to show you is this. These are areas in our lives. This is a long list and we could keep going. There are no clear commands here. The scriptures don't tell us what to do. These are matters of Christian liberty. And listen, folks, some of us can have some strong, strong views in these matters. Some of you love rules and law, while some of you run from rules and law.

Some of you see Christian life through the lens of grace and liberty, while some of you seem, you just can't seem to live for Jesus without the rules. You see? And not only is it important for us to know how to live in these matters. Listen, folks, as an individual Christian, it is extremely important for us to know how we should live for Jesus in all of these matters. And more, we need to see how we should live for these matters in the life of the local church.

Yet it's important for us to know how to make these decisions, but more important, we need to know how to make these decisions in our lives in the local church when a brother across the sanctuary lives it out completely different. And remember, folks, this is life in the body. Body of Christ, every member of the body is necessary. Every member of the body is different. We are one because Christ has made us one. We have been supernaturally baptized into Christ and into the body, and we need one another. We can't have any attitude of independence or superiority. We've seen that that is a sin.

And we must love one another and serve one another and even discipline one another. Yes, discipline. We learned last week that in Galatians 6, 1-2, that we must carry our own spiritual load, but then we must carry the burdens of others. That's a part of discipline. You know what's sad? When it comes to body life, some people think that they are obligated to fight about all this. We're just gonna fight. Some people think that they're called to correct everybody and make them live out everything in the life like they do. And their spiritual gift seems to be that they're gonna straighten out everybody.

And if they can't straighten them out, they'll give them the cold shoulder, the bulldozer, the shotgun, and everything else. Listen, no one. I don't care how spiritual you are. I don't care how long you've been living for the Lord. No one has the right to divide and disrupt the body over non-essentials. Write that down. Nobody has the right to divide and disrupt the body of Christ over non-essentials. Verse 19 and 20, so then let us pursue what makes for peace for the mutual building up of one another. I'm paraphrasing that I know. Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God.

Don't destroy the work of God for your conviction is what he's saying. Nobody has the right to divide and disrupt and fracture the fellowship over non-essentials. Now, to be honest with you, this is where most of our problems have come from. Throughout this series, I've alluded to problems. Some of you know that we had leaders in the past steal money. We corrected it, dealt with it biblically. We had leaders steal money and we dealt with it biblically with a group of men and we exercise grace. And the men, even in the circumstance said, "You don't even have to pay the money back," but they refused to repent and we exercise church discipline.

We've had really more problems and more factions and more difficulties in the life of the church when people have dealt with some of these issues that can be so difficult. There have been more people that have used a sledgehammer to try to fracture the fellowship with these kind of matters and ultimately, you know what it's become? It's forged us. It's made us better. Now, real quickly, I wanna do two more things here. First, I wanna give us some guiding principles here. This came from some information in my study and I've just kind of altered it and made it my own.

And then second, I wanna give you some personal guidance because some of you, you want me to tell you how to deal with the non-essentials, these matters of choice. You want some instruction. Now, none of this will be on the screen, so you might have to write some of this down. First principle, first principle, a weak Christian should be received in the life of the church. Weak Christians now, the weak Christian should be received warmly, lovingly, the right hand of Christian fellowship. Oh, that great big hug of Christian fellowship. Weak Christians should be received in the life of the church.

Second principle, there must be mutual love and acceptance for one another. The strong must not judge the weak. The weak must not condemn the strong. This goes beyond accepting one another. There must be a mutual love, a mutual respect, a mutual acceptance, and a mutual acknowledgement of one's faith. And listen, they just might be more right with God than you are. Third, each believer is a true servant of God. The text says in verse four that they are before their master. They stand and they fall before their master. What is Paul saying? They have that conviction before God and they serve God, not you.

In these matters of Christian liberty, you don't serve me, you serve God. A few years ago, a man in the life of the church came to me. He was telling me about praying about where he would put his children in school. And I quizzed him. I was looking for his motive. I was looking for how God was leading him. And I was listening to him, being fair and objective and talking with his wife and praying through. And he made a decision and I said, I support you. It wasn't about what I thought. It was about God working in his life. He was living before his God, not before me.

And then fourth, instead of bickering and debating and even fighting over non-essentials, brothers and sisters must make every effort to keep peace. Every effort to keep peace. Verse 20 says, do not tear down the work of God for something like food. You get that? Don't tear down the work of God because you like a day different than somebody across the sanctuary. I'll be honest with you. I would hate to know that I have fractured the fellowship of God, even tried to destroy the fellowship of God over a non-essential. I'm gonna be a little honest here. We've protected you. Not just me, brother Keith as well.

And me and in this building, we have protected this church from people who wanted to fracture the fellowship and divide the fellowship over their opinion in matters like this. And I would hate to know that I fractured the fellowship of God and I've even tried to attack the work of God and the fellowship of God over a non-essential. Proverbs calls you a fool. Remember our questions? Were the differences wrong? Were they? I mean, did Paul ever look at the weaker and say you better buck up and you better be like the strong. Did he say you need to tighten your belt and get like those strong folks in the church? Never did.

Now honestly, I was thinking about this last night. We may need to spend some more time here. Some of you might need to be taught how to deal with some of these matters in your own life. This could be another sermon for another day. We'll just pray and see how this works out. But real quick, personally, this is you now. Three points of instruction that'll help you personally here. Number one, stay rooted in the local church. Listen folks, get in the local church, pour your whole life into the local church. Stay rooted and planted in the life of the local church. Listen folks, we have a healthy local church here.

We preach the true gospel here. We are striving for a regenerate church membership. You know what that means? We don't have a church role full of lost goats who wanna fight and argue. We won't have that. We practice healthy, balanced biblical church discipline for your purity and the purity of the church and also to excommunicate those that God deems unworthy. We are governed by God called flawed leaders. You know why I say that? I'm flawed. I'm not perfect. But we are called of God to do this work and we have a healthy pulpit. Years ago, I had a man walk up to me and said, "You only put elder quality people behind the pulpit." You see that?

We have a healthy, strong pulpit. We work hard for biblical small group ministry. That's biblical folks. We need small group ministry to study the word together and to build body life. And listen, we are a healthy local church. A local church is the safest place for you to be in. So you find a healthy local church and this is one and pour your life here. Number two, stay under your leaders. Stay under your leaders, the leaders that God has placed over you. Now, here's where I want you to look at Hebrews 13 verse 17. The writer of Hebrews, and this was a problematic church as well. He says, obey your leaders. Obey them. Submit to them.

Sounds a little authoritative, doesn't it? For they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. As the pastor of Grace Life Church in Brookhaven, I know that I will give an account for how I lead you. And I have faithfully done this work for almost 10 years. My 10 year anniversary is in September. I've faithfully done the work. Not perfect. I've made mistakes. Yes. And there is no reason for you not to submit to my leadership and brother Keith's leadership as an elder and the leaders that God is forming here.

And so what we see is we got to stay rooted in the life of the local church. We got to stay under the leaders that God has placed over us. And then number three, allow your leaders to shepherd you through. See, the Christian life is a journey and you got to have the church and the leaders of God to shepherd you, to shepherd you through these matters. This is where I want you to turn over to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter five, one, two, and three. Peter was an apostle, but he acted as an elder. So notice what he says.

So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Here's the verse. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. And notice that word shepherd. Notice the verse. He doesn't say rule the flock of God. He doesn't say demand the flock of God. He doesn't say form the flock of God like you are. No, he says shepherd, shepherd. And that's why I am patient with you. That's why I love you. That's why I meet with you.

That's why I pray for you. That's why I'm involved in your life. And listen, that's why I focus on God's word and the work of the spirit in you. And I don't get off on matters of personal Christian liberty that much. Why? The main focus should be the main focus and the main focus is the word of God. And if I teach you the word, if you're sitting in small groups, if you're connected with more mature believers, listen, if you're plugging your life here and you're submissive to the leaders that God has over you, that work will shepherd you through. That work will shepherd you through.

You'll be weaker and you'll get stronger and you'll get stronger. And five years from now, you'll be a lot stronger than you were before. A few years ago, I had somebody in the life of the church try to redefine that verse for me. Shepherd, the flock of God. I had somebody that always came to me and they would say something like this, you need to go fix that. You need to go fix them. You need to go sit down and talk with them. See, they didn't get that word. I'm a shepherd. I'm not a fixer. They wanted me to straighten all that out. See, they were mad that those in the back there didn't live out their life the way they lived it out.

No, this takes time and this is slow and this is this supernatural work of God. And look, as a pastor, you either have this ability or you don't. You shepherd people through. And I'm showing you, allow the leaders in the church to shepherd you through. And you know what? There might be a small group leader, a man or a woman in the church that shepherds you through some of these things more than I do. So these three instructions, along with all that we've looked at, you got it all. You can tell me everything that I shared. Stay in a healthy church, submit to your leaders, allow your leaders to shepherd you through, take all that we have here.

Look, these are matters of Christian conscience and Christian liberty. These are matters of God working in us and we're all different. Now notice the title, Law, Liberty and the Destruction of the Church. Some of you love law folks, you love rules. Oh, you cannot live without a list of dos and don'ts. Some of you love grace, liberty, freedom, but we cannot allow our desire for law or our desire for liberty to create a destructive work in the life of the church. So the destruction of the church question, no. It's for the building of the church, for the building of the church. And look, 20 years from now, you'll still be you. I'll still be me.

You'll still be you, but we'll all be a little stronger. See, I know it's a lot. Let's pray. Let's commit all of this to the Lord. Let's ask God to do what only God can do to continue to work in us after the sermon that we would study this, we'd pray over it, ask the right questions. Let's pray and ask God to use this and more to form us into the strong Christians he wants us to be. Let's pray.